Try not to splurge too often–not all of it will get noticed (nobody cared about my pamphlet programs, my hand-painted monogram aisle runner, etc…and i have no pictures to prove it!) and I could have saved myself al ot of time and effort and money by not having to do *everything* so spectacularly.

Elope! No but seriously, don’t try to please everyone, it only leads to disaster. Do what YOU want, not what your friends, family or guests think best. But seriously if we would have eloped like we wanted, I would be in a much happier state with some family members. They can turn into satan at weddings!

If you have a vision for something, don’t let go of that, despite how many people may discourage you. I can’t tell you how many times people said that my dress, my boots, my lighting scheme weren’t going to work. To them, I say “Pshaw!” Who’s naysaying now?

While it’s good to have fun with the little details and special touches, don’t get to wrapped up in them. In the end they really don’t matter and you really won’t care that the lemonade was served out of a blue cooler rather than your pretty glass containers or that all of a sudden you don’t have a dance floor. (For the record, people don’t mind dancing on grass in the slightest. Save your money. The grass can grow back. )

Oh, and realize that delegating may very well take effort, be prepared for that.

I wouldn’t have worried about last minutes RSVPs as either they didn’t show up anyway or other expected guests didn’t show up. I wouldn’t have bothered with things like cake servers and the like. I should have consulted more with the photographer. I would of had a smaller wedding if I had known how I would end up doing just all the wedding planning myself!

During the planning process everyone kept saying that the wedding day is the BEST day of your life. (They would then follow it by saying that when your children are born, those are also great days.) I don’t encourage you to think of your wedding day as THE BEST day. Think of it as one great day that is going to start many great days that you and your husband will share. You will have many BEST days to come!